The Reason
by Jolly Green
Summary: AU  Sgt Naruto Uzumaki of the U.S. Army finds himself asking 'why' at a difficult point in his life and career.  What will his answer be?  Maybe his reason for fighting isn't such a strange one after all?
1. Warning

XXXXXXXX

WARNING

XXXXXXXX

The following fan fiction contains course language, violence, blood and mature situations. There are also allusions to situations that may hit close to home for certain people. This story focuses mainly on the War on Terror and being on the ground in-theatre with our boys and girls in uniform. The most graphic parts are in the first 2,000 words of the fic, but expect angst, humor and a little bit of fluff intermixed throughout the rest of the fic. I tried to keep it as clean as possible, but war is never clean.

This was not written to insult or degrade the actions or memories of those that have fought in the War on Terror; quite the opposite. For those that don't know, I am in the United States military and have been there and seen that. I may have left out certain facts of life about living in those conditions for your own mental health and operational security, but I did my damnedest to keep as much of my story as possible true-to-life.

Hit the 'Next Chapter' button at your own risk.

~Jolly


	2. The Reason

The Reason

A Naruto AU Fanfic

By: Jolly

XXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note

XXXXXXXXXXX

Got another bunny while on my way to work and decided to put it down on digital paper while it was still fresh. This is part fanfic, part therapy, part middle finger/response to those out there that are against the Global War on Terror and 100% AU. If you think that the ideas portrayed in this story will offend you, stop reading now. This fic contains controversial material along with plenty of violence and language. Read it at your own peril.

A big 'thank you' to **eternalshiva** for the beta! I don't know how I'd get anything posted if it wasn't for her…

This is going to be submitted to **Perpetual159**'s contest: The Dattebayo Challenge! Check it out at her website: .com/site/perpetual159/challenges

Enjoy!

XXXXXXXXXXX

"RPG!" was all Sergeant Naruto Uzumaki heard before said weapon detonated against the nearby building where he was taking cover. The resulting explosion sent him airborne and out into the street where he lay motionless.

First Lieutenant Shikamaru Nara had glanced over at the warning and watched the entire event occur as if in slow motion. He opened his mouth to order his corpsman forward, but stopped short when he noticed Staff Sergeant Julio from First Squad dash into the street to retrieve the downed NCO while his squad laid down suppressing fire for him.

Staff Sergeant Antonio Julio reached down and checked for a pulse on the blonde while keeping his eyes down the street. He gave a silent prayer of thanks when he felt the strong heartbeat against his fingers followed by a small groan of pain from the downed soldier. He was brought back to reality by the rounds whizzing past him from his left; his reaction was to turn and engage the lone enemy standing in the street.

He squeezed the trigger on his M4A1 assault rifle and sent an armor piercing round through the head of the insurgent. The spray of blood behind the mujahedeen told the NCO that the rag head wasn't going to be getting up.

Ever again.

"Tango down!" he yelled as he reached down once more and grabbed the back of Sergeant Uzumaki's body armor to bring him back into cover. He fired his assault rifle one-handed as he dragged the blond man to ensure the enemy kept their heads down. Once back in cover behind the gutted car he'd previously been behind, he called for a medic while he checked the blond over for any obvious wounds.

After a quick perusal, Julio concluded that he was just a bit banged up from being thrown by the explosion. The Navy corpsman attached to their unit showed up seconds later and gave the same diagnosis, then pulled out a small package from a pouch on his hip, broke it open and waved it under the sergeant's nose. After a moment, Naruto swatted the corpsman's hand away and started to wake.

Sergeant Julio glanced over his shoulder from shooting and grinned at the groggy blond. "Wake the hell up Foxy! This ain't no time to be laying down on the job!"

Another call of 'medic' went up causing the corpsman to disappear. Naruto tried slowly getting to his feet, but his knee buckled halfway up causing him to fall. Thankfully, Julio reached out and caught him before he hit the dirt. "Take it easy Uzumaki. I gotcha."

Naruto nodded in gratitude and sat with his back to the vehicle as he got his bearings. "Thanks Sarge. What the hell happened?" he asked as he shook his head to try and clear his vision. "Last thing I remember was laying down fire for Second Squad while they moved up the street."

Julio hit the magazine release on his weapon and let the empty clip drop before inserting a fresh one. "RPG hit the building next to you and threw you into the street," Julio replied, pointing a thumb towards the area where Naruto landed. "We thought you were DRT."

Naruto shivered involuntarily as he glanced over to where he'd previously been taking cover only to see the building crumbled right on top of the spot. He turned his head in the other direction to see where Julio had pointed and just shook his head. He'd been thrown damn near 5 meters; it was no wonder they'd thought he'd been Dead Right There.

A tap on his shoulder brought him back to the present with a jolt. His gaze followed the offending limb to meet the Staff Sergeant's eyes. "You trackin' Foxy?"

Naruto gave a quick nod. "Yeah, just fine. I think I'm good to go now." Suiting actions to words, the blond came to his knees and fired a three-round burst over the trunk of the car towards the pair of insurgents hiding in a doorway down the street.

Julio smiled evilly at the young noncom for a moment before asking, "How you doing on ammo?"

Ducking back behind the car, Naruto checked his pouches quickly to get a count. "I've got five clips and fifteen rounds left in this one," he answered, indicating his rifle.

"Good," replied Julio, "The Company is closing on the objective and we need to get moving. Your team's on point, Sergeant." Before Naruto could reply, Julio sent a burst down the street they'd just come down, taking down the muj that had snuck up behind the platoon. "Move!"

"Got it, Sarge!" Naruto gave a sharp nod, rolled around the back of the car and sprinted into cover inside a building with two of his teammates. He tapped each of them on the shoulder to announce his presence before speaking. "Uchiha! Haruno! We're moving up! Be ready to cover me while I move to the next building!" Both soldiers turned and looked at Naruto before looking at each other and nodding.

Specialist Sakura Haruno moved away from the window and broke out her first aid kit as she made her way towards the blond. "Dammit Naruto!" she exclaimed with exasperation, "Why do you keep ending up like this?" She quickly deflected his attempts to wave her off by grabbing him by his armor and pushing him against the wall. "Stand still and shut up while I patch you up," she growled.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Sasuke Uchiha smirked at his appointed team leader over his shoulder. "Get your bell rung, Dobe?"

Naruto merely flipped him a bird and replied, "Fuck off, Teme. We've got a job to do." The blond turned to call Julio on the radio, brushing off his female teammate, thus missing the slightly relieved look on her face while ignoring the soft 'Hn' as a matter of course. Thankfully, Sakura had already finished bandaging the worst of the scrapes and let him go without another word.

Naruto then moved to the side door and activated the mic inside of his helmet. "Dagger Six-Four, this is Fox Niner-One Actual. Over."

The radio crackled a bit before he heard the Staff Sergeant respond. "Go ahead Niner-One. Over."

"Fox Niner-One reports ready to advance; how copy? Over."

"Copy Fox Niner-One ready to advance. Standby," replied Julio.

Julio turned to the Lieutenant next to him and raised an eyebrow in silent query. Lieutenant Nara keyed his radio and gave the order. "This is Dagger Six Actual to all Dagger and Fox units. We've been pinned down long enough and I, for one, am getting sick of this shit. We're pressing forward to the objective and we aren't stopping until we get what we came for. Fox Niner-One is going to be breaking the trail, so let's make sure they've got a nice empty road to walk down. Huah?"

From all around the block came an enthusiastically chorused 'Huah!'

"Troublesome… Fox Niner-One, move out!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

6 hours later – Base X

XXXXXXXXXXX

Charlie Company, Platoon Alpha, First Squad of the 82nd Airborne, a.k.a. Fox Niner-One or Fire Team 7, was sitting outside their tent cleaning their weapons while bullshitting about the mission. It had been a success, but Charlie Company had taken heavy losses to achieve it. The last Naruto had heard there were 6 KIA and 23 WIA, with 5 of the wounded being critically so. The fact that he was included in those numbers did nothing to placate the blond's frustration.

'_Why? Why are we out here? Why do good soldiers have to die every day for people who could give a shit less? WHY?_'

"You okay, Dobe?" asked Sasuke, looking up from his broken down M-240 Squad Automatic Weapon. "You sure that blast didn't do more than ring your bell?" the stoic man queried.

Naruto nodded and started to scrub at his weapon's bolt with his cleaning brush. "Yeah, Teme… I'm okay, just… thinking," he replied evenly.

A snort from his other teammate caused Naruto to level a glare at the offender. Sakura merely rolled her eyes and went back to scrubbing out the firing chamber of her M4. "Naruto, you think much harder and the smoke will have Second Squad wondering if we started the cookout without them!" joked the strawberry blond medic.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at her. "Real funny, Sakura-chan. It's not like I'm the same idiot I was back in high school!" Naruto shot back.

"True. Now you're an idiot that gets paid five times the amount you did in high school," she retorted with a grin.

Naruto's only response was to stick his tongue out, causing her to laugh.

The blond then turned back to his weapon and blew into the bolt to make sure it was clean before replacing it inside the rifle. He then quickly inserted the pins that held the two halves together and function checked the weapon to ensure that nothing had fouled. Satisfied, he hit the lever which sent the bolt forward, put it on safe and finally loaded it before reattaching it to the single point harness around his torso; letting it hang in front of him ready to be utilized at a moment's notice.

Naruto stood and stretched to relieve the kink in his back from being hunched over for so long before looking down at his friends and squad mates. "You guys want anything from the DFAC?"

Uchiha held up the upper receiver of his weapon and looked down the barrel momentarily before giving a negative "Hn" in response. Satisfied with his handiwork, Uchiha started on the lower receiver. "You're not going to the cookout?" he asked with a concerned look.

Naruto smiled, but shook his head. "I'm good. I think I just want to grab a quick meal and rack out tonight," the blond said tiredly. He stepped over the large Pelican case they were all using as a table and waved over his shoulder without looking back. "You guys enjoy the party. I'll see you in the morning."

Both soldiers stopped what they were doing and watched their squad leader walking away with worry etched on their faces. Sakura glanced over at Sasuke and cocked an eyebrow. "What do we do, Sasuke? I think he's cracking…"

Uchiha sighed and started to scrub at his weapon again before answering. "We _should_ tell Staff Sergeant Julio…"

"Tell Staff Sergeant Julio what?" asked a voice from behind the two soldiers, causing them both to jump in surprise. As one, the two turned to look over their shoulder at the beefy NCO standing with his arms crossed.

Speak of the devil.

Haruno was the first to react. "Dammit Sarge! You know better than to sneak up on us like that! What if we'd mistaken you for a durka?" the female medic asked with a scowl.

Julio barked out a laugh. "You'd be eating dirt before you had a chance to bring your weapon into play, Specialist. Now what was it that you thought I should be told about?" Julio asked seriously.

The two enlisted looked at each other before shrugging. "Well, Sarge… it's Naruto…"

XXXXXXXXXXX

_Naruto held his crying girlfriend in his arms as he patiently waited for her to wind down. He hadn't wanted to upset her, but the blond knew that if he didn't tell her what he had planned she would be even more upset with him. As her sobs began to die down, he decided to push forward in his explanation._

"_Hinata-chan, you know as well as I do that your father would never let you live with me if I couldn't take care of you on my own," he said softly against the side of her head as he stroked her long hair down her back. When she didn't respond, Naruto went for broke. "Besides, I'll be able to see you again at my graduation! It'll only be two months!" he said with a smile, hoping to cheer her up a little._

_No such luck._

_Hinata looked up at him with her tear-streaked face and puffy eyes and he could tell she was really trying her hardest not to break down any further. Naruto couldn't understand why she was getting so upset over his decision to join the Army. All he knew was that she _was_ upset and that he had no clue how to un-upset her._

_That being the case, it was no surprise when her response to his revelation caught him flat-footed._

"_B-b-but… what if you find someone else while you're gone?" she blubbered miserably as her eyes threatened to overflow._

_Naruto couldn't help himself. He laughed. The betrayed look on Hinata's face only made it worse._

_He quickly grabbed her arm as she began to turn away, bringing her back into his chest and kissing her forehead softly. She looked up at him with tears streaming from her eyes and a confused expression on her face that he couldn't help but find adorable. "Hinata-chan, there is absolutely _no_ way in heaven or hell that I'll find another girl while I'm gone," he said reassuringly with a soft smile. "I promise you that there will never be another girl in the entire universe for me, Hinata-chan."_

_Her next action surprised them both. Flesh met flesh and two bodies were suddenly horizontal on Naruto's bed with lips locked together. It was a position that both were perfectly comfortable with. _

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sat down at a free table in the DFAC, wishing that the tray of food in front of him was a giant bowl of ramen instead. Not to say that the food was bad, just that ramen was preferable. He dug in quickly after a rushed 'Itadakimasu', but slowed his pace as his mind began to wander.

Fortunately, he didn't have a chance to brood for long before he was brought back to reality by the person sitting down across the table from him.

"Uzumaki," said Julio with a nod. "I couldn't help but notice you sitting here by yourself and figured you could use some company."

"Hey Staff Sergeant," Naruto replied with a smile, only to poked in the forehead with the handle of Julio's fork for his troubles.

"No rank in the mess, Uzumaki," Julio chastised.

"Err, sorry Sarge," corrected Naruto. "Slipped my mind," he said as he began to eat once more.

Julio started in on his meal as he shrugged. The two men ate silently for several minutes, each waiting for the other to bring up another topic for discussion. It was only when Naruto had mostly finished his meal that Julio decided to just come out and say what needed to be said.

"Look Naruto, we need to talk," the NCO started, making sure that the blond was looking him in the eyes before continuing. "Your squad mates are worried about the way you've been acting lately… and I am, too. You know… if something's bothering you, I'm always available to talk to."

Naruto held the older man's gaze for several moments before dropping his eyes to stare at the table between them. He was normally a closed person, preferring to keep his problems to himself, but the man in front of him wasn't just anybody; he was the man that had pulled his unconscious self back into cover during the middle of a firefight. Arguably, he owed Staff Sergeant Julio his life.

Normally, those kinds of debts were repaid with free beer, but on rare occasions they could be paid in other ways. All Julio was asking was for Naruto to drop his mask and open up so that he might help him in some way.

In other words, Naruto didn't have a choice.

Naruto gave a sigh and lifted his gaze to meet Julio's once again. "Let me ask you something, Julio." The other NCO merely nodded, indicating that the blond should continue. "Why are we all out here fighting and dying for? I mean, these people couldn't care less that we're here and most of them want us gone! Even people back in the States don't want us here! So why?" he asked vehemently in a conversational tone.

Julio sat back in his seat and kept his gaze firmly on the man in front of him while he contemplated on how to answer. This was the first time he'd ever seen such raw emotion on the man's whiskered face and it was a little off-putting to face it straight on.

The obvious answer was 'because we were ordered to be here and to fight against the terrorists that plague this country,' but Julio knew that wasn't what the younger man was asking. He decided to make a point.

"We're fighting and dying for the exact same reason that men and women have fought and died for throughout history," he said seriously, his gaze never wavering. He saw Naruto cock his head to the side in confusion and continued before he could ask the obvious question. "Love."

If Naruto had been confused before he 'opened up,' he was beyond confused now. "Love? I don't get it," he stated.

Julio nodded in understanding. "Okay, let me ask _you_ something, Naruto. Why did you join the Army?"

Caught off guard by the question, Naruto could do nothing but answer honestly without thinking about it. "It was either join the military or end up working at some dead-end job flipping burgers for the rest of my life. The options of an orphan with a GED are pretty limited in today's world," Naruto stated miserably.

Julio didn't let up, pressing forward while he had the blond focused. "So the Army's just another job, eh? Well, if you feel so strongly against the war, why don't you just go AWOL?"

Naruto just shook his head and replied, "Well, because I'd go to jail if they ever caught me!"

"And does that prospect really bother you?" Julio continued. He watched as Naruto's expression changed from worried to thoughtful and couldn't help but smile as he watched the blond's thoughts play across his face.

"No… it doesn't," Naruto said slowly.

"So, why do you stay?"

Naruto was silent once again while he pondered over the sergeant's question. His thoughts drifted to the mission earlier in the day and his teammates that he'd lived and fought by for the last year. It was there that he found his answer.

"Well, if I wasn't out there with my team, then someone else might die that might not have if I'd been there," he replied quietly. "I don't think I could face myself in the mirror knowing that I could have made a difference if I'd only _been_ there."

The grin that was on Julio's face had Naruto blinking in bewilderment. "What's funny?" he asked.

"Just the fact that you just admitted that you were fighting for love," Julio replied. Before Naruto had a chance to ask, the noncom began to clarify. "There are many kinds of 'love,' Naruto," he said as he leaned back in his chair and went into 'lecture mode'; not unlike one of his old teachers, the blond noted.

"The Greek distinguish between three different kinds of love – well five really, but only the three main ones matter for this discussion – _eros_, _philia, _and _agape_: love of the body, love of the mind, and love of the soul," the Spaniard explained, ticking off fingers as he named each.

"The one that you just admitted to was _philia_, which is a dispassionate virtuous love," Julio stated. "In simpler terms, it is the loyalty created from the familiarity and equality you share with those around you. Does that make more sense to you?" he asked while leaning forward.

Naruto's silence spoke volumes about how much the noncom's words had affected the younger man. The blond unconsciously brought his right hand up to the left side of his chest, just over his heart. Julio caught the movement, but declined to comment. Seeing that the blond wasn't going to reply, Julio continued once more in a wistful tone.

"Love of a religion. Love of a country. Love of a way of life. Love of a woman." Naruto's fingers flinched slightly at the last one. Julio stared long and hard at the man across the table from him until Naruto looked up and met his eyes. "Our enemy fights for the exact same reason that we do, Naruto. Are you gonna sit there and let them win?"

Naruto shook his head solemnly and let his fingers linger on his chest pocket a second longer before letting his hand drop and answering, "No, because to let them win is to let my friends die… and I refuse to allow the people I care about to come to harm as long as I'm still alive to do something about it!"

Julio smiled at the blond's fervor for a moment. However the moment was short lived and his face fell a bit. "That's a good attitude to have… but keeping it is the hard part," he pointed out.

Suddenly, Julio got to his feet and picked up his empty tray. "Just keep this in mind Foxy: loyalty is all well and good, but fighting for the right to go home at night and climb into a warm bed with your woman has a much more… _profound_ reasoning to it…" he trailed off as he stared quite pointedly at the pocket Naruto had just been touching seconds before. "Don't you agree?"

Before the blond could come up with a response, Julio walked away to take care of his tray, leaving Naruto to his own thoughts once more.

XXXXXXXXXXX

2 weeks later

XXXXXXXXXXX

It's a documented fact that any sort of tedious duty lasting for an extended period of time can and will make a person a little stir-crazy. This fact is doubly true for military members in a deployed location for six-plus months.

Soldiers throughout history have found various ways to deal with the tedium of being out on campaign - from visiting the local brothels to getting into bar fights. Not to say that those sorts of things don't still happen in today's military… just that today's leadership has found more efficient ways to let their troops blow off some steam.

You see, the Powers That Be in charge of Base X had decided that in order to raise morale of the personnel, they needed to do something that would raise funds for future Morale, Welfare, and Recreation events while at the same time letting the various units interact with each other. The solution?

The First Annual Desert Duke-Out.

The rules were simple: First to get soundly knocked on their ass or face, or forced to submit, lost. No gouging, biting, or any full force moves that could seriously injure one's opponent. After all, safety was paramount! The event was held tournament ladder style with one participant selected from every unit on the base, giving the event an even 40 combatants.

Which explained why Naruto was circling a giant of a man wearing the urban digital camouflage of the Air Force, minus the blouse, while trying to find a weakness to exploit. The two men were standing in a rubber chip-filled pit surrounded by several bleachers full of spectators cheering their heads off and having an all-around good time watching the two combatants try to beat the shit out of each other.

To one side stood their referee; a Sailor wearing desert camo – also without his blouse. Naruto wasn't totally convinced that the stocky ref could really do anything to stop the other man if things went too far; the Airman looked like he could chew steel and shit nails.

Naruto and his opponent had already traded several good blows back and forth to get a feel for each other's style, but the Air Force guy had come out on top of every exchange thus far. The problem, Naruto realized, was the difference in size. If he tried to keep his distance, the behemoth would just batter his defenses with blows… and every time he closed to attack, the giant would start throwing elbows and knees to hammer him.

The chants from the Air Force, Marine and Seabee sections of the stands weren't helping either…

Naruto didn't know who this guy was, but if he couldn't think of something quick, he was going to end up in a world of hurt. Wait… who was he kidding? His body ached from the beating he was getting from the Airman, not to mention what his previous two opponents had managed to do to him.

So lost in thought was the blond that he almost missed dodging the fist aimed at his face. Hopping back towards the edge of The Pit, he quickly shook his head to clear it while his opponent merely smirked and allowed him the time to regroup. The ref, however, caught his eye and tapped his watch, reminding Naruto that each round was timed and that they were only a few minutes shy of the ten minute limit.

Now or never.

Not even bothering to acknowledge the ref, Naruto sprang forward with a flurry of punches and kicks; trying his best to keep the larger man on the defensive. The Airman tried to catch one of his kicks, but the blond feinted and quickly grabbed his opponent's arm before he could slip away. A quick pivot and snap of the hips had the giant flipping over the shorter man and impacting the rubber chips below with an exhalation of air.

Naruto quickly moved to capitalize on the opening, but was stopped short as the referee grabbed the back of his shirt. "That's match!" he yelled, causing the portion of the crowd cheering for his opponent to groan and the contingent rooting for him to erupt in cheers.

He quickly relaxed his stance and watched his opponent kip-up to his feet before turning and walking towards him. Naruto gulped in apprehension and prayed that the monster of a man before him wasn't a sore loser. To his relief, the Airman smiled and extended his hand.

"Good match, Uzumaki! Kick some ass in the quarter-finals for me," he congratulated. The blond gladly returned the smile and shook his hand, eliciting a round of applause for the show of sportsmanship.

"Thanks Payne. I'll be sure to do just that, but it was a bitch getting under your guard!" he complained after accepting the praise. "I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to pull off two more wins after the beating you gave me."

The two men broke the handshake and turned to return to the stands as Payne responded. "Don't worry about it now. Just rest up and get ready for the next one," he said as they stepped up out of The Pit. "Chances are good that they'll be just as worn out as you are."

Naruto shrugged in response, not really agreeing or disagreeing with the other man. "We'll see, won't we? Anyway, see you around!" he exclaimed and extended his fist to the man. Payne nodded and bumped his own fist with the blond's.

"Right! Take care dude!" he yelled over the sound of the crowd cheering for the next set of combatants already in The Pit before making his way over to the Air Force section of the stands. A couple of Seabees ran over and slugged him in the arm for 'failing them' or some such nonsense while Payne just laughed it off and took the friendly ribbing from his companions.

Suddenly, Naruto found himself being jostled from behind by his own gaggle of supporters and had to catch himself. He turned and smiled at his squad as they talked over one another congratulating him.

After a few minutes, the group dispersed and went back to watching the fights leaving Naruto sitting next to Uchiha and Haruno in the front row of the bleachers. Making sure no one else around them was paying attention, Naruto tilted his head towards Sasuke and scowled.

"_Now_ will you give them back?" he asked in a threatening tone. Not one to be intimidated, Sasuke smirked and shook his head.

"Not until it's all said and done, Dobe. You may have made it to the semi-finals, and earned your 'precious' items back, but you won't get them until the tournament is over," the ebony-eyed man chided.

"And if I don't want to wait until it's over?" Naruto asked with a slight growl.

"Then every guy in the squad is going to have a copy of that second item in their foot lockers by tonight," Uchiha stated plainly with an evil grin. It quickly changed back to his standard smirk as Sasuke waved off the glare his friend was giving him.

"I've got the only copies on me right now and I promise to give them back after this is over, okay?" he assured the blond.

"Fine," Naruto replied as he crossed his arms and turned his attention back to the current fight, ignoring the machine gunner next to him.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Later that evening, Naruto returned to his squad's tent and collapsed onto his cot in an exhausted heap. He'd ended up losing in the final round, but Naruto had made the Marine work for the win. The match finally concluded with the ten-minute limit being exceeded and the final results coming down to the judges.

Overall, Naruto felt proud of his performance, but damn did he hurt! All he wanted to do now was take a shower and grab some shut-eye. So he decided to act before someone came and interrupted that plan. Pushing himself to a sitting position, he began removing his dirt-caked uniform.

He quickly changed into a pair of shorts and a tank-top before grabbing his toiletry bag and throwing a towel over his shoulder and pushing aside the mosquito netting that was hung around his 'cubicle' of the tent. From the back of the forty-foot long structure came the sound of polka music, causing the squad leader to shake his head silently at his most eccentric trooper and push open the plywood door to the outside.

He gave a nod to a passing soldier and made his way down the line of tents all the way to the end where there stood a trio of prefabricated buildings; one for latrine usage and two for showering – male and female. Taking the concrete steps two at a time, Naruto entered the building and claimed a free shower before the evening rush had a chance to use up all the cold water.

Dropping his bag on the sink behind him, he quickly removed his shampoo and soap before placing them in his chosen stall. Then, disregarding normal modesty, Naruto stripped, hung his clothes and towel on the hook next to the curtain and stepped into the shower, closing the plain white piece of plastic behind him. The blast of warm water that came from the head caused the blond to give an audible sigh of relief, the stress and activity of the day swirling down the drain alongside the dirt and sweat.

After enjoying the heat for a few minutes, Naruto turned off the water and quickly washed before turning the water back on to rinse off. Water conservation was standard procedure in the desert, but the blond still took the time to relax a bit as he finished before turning off the valve one last time. A short time later, the blond man emerged from the building and made his way back down the line of tents.

Walking back inside his tent, Naruto noticed the music from the back of the 'room' had changed from polka to J-pop. Against his better judgment, he called out to the Air Force radioman. "You the only one in here, Tito?"

The Mexican poked his head out from behind the 'curtain' as the music changed to a classical piece. "Yup. The Bastard was in here a minute ago for somethin', but he left quick as he came," he replied. "You need somethin'?"

Naruto absent-mindedly dried his still slightly-dripping hair and shook his head. "Nope, just curious. Make sure you kill the music once twenty-hundred rolls around, okay?"

"Rog, Foxy," was the Hispanic's reply as he rolled his eyes and disappeared into his rack once more.

The blond squad leader tuned out the background music as he pushed aside his own netting and stepped into his rack. The first thing he noticed was the manila envelope lying on his pillow. He hastily put away his bag and hung up the towel before sitting on his cot and picking up the package.

Written across the front in black marker was 'DOBE' and Naruto knew it could only have come from one person. Flipping it over he ran a finger under the edge of the flap and tore it open, allowing two photographs to fall into his lap. He discarded the envelope and picked up his two most precious possessions.

The first picture depicted himself as a baby being held by a grinning spiky, blond-haired, blue-eyed man and a long, red-haired, green-eyed woman. It was the only picture in existence with him and his parents. Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki had both died in a massive earthquake that had left Naruto alive, but scarred. The resultant tsunami from the earthquake and its aftershocks had killed thousands.

Looking at the photo always slightly bummed him, but he held the perfect remedy for the encroaching depression in his other hand.

The second picture was taken less than a year ago, just after he'd started dating his girlfriend, Hinata Hyuuga. They had been out on a full-day date at the local theme park. Hinata had been tired and fallen asleep on the drive home. So Naruto, being the gentleman that he is and not wanting to wake her, had carried her from his car to the front door of her home.

Unfortunately for them, her younger sister, Hanabi, had promptly grabbed her camera and forever captured the image of the Hyuuga 'Heiress' happily snuggled up against her boyfriend's chest while being carried bridal style through the foyer of her home.

Naruto ran his thumb over the image as he smiled fondly and placed both photos inside the left breast pocket of his uniform; next to his heart. Sleep brought happy dreams for Naruto Uzumaki that night.

XXXXXXXXXXX

6 months later

XXXXXXXXXXX

The plane ride had been long and mostly uneventful. Aside from the incident where a group of young privates from Platoon Charlie had gotten a bit too rowdy in the Duty Free during a stop-over in Greece, the entire Company had been mostly trying to relax on the Trans-Atlantic flight.

However, that wasn't the case now that the plane was pulling up to the terminal at the local air port near the Army base. Everyone was anxious to get off the plane and fidgeting restlessly in their seats. Everyone had cheered loudly as they landed and conversations had started anew about things they were planning to do once they were home.

As the seatbelt light turned off, Naruto turned his head to look over his shoulder at his two teammates sitting in the row behind him. Due to the size of the plane, each soldier pretty much had three seats to themselves; a perk that the Teme was taking advantage of by laying across his entire row.

Haruno was trying to wake the passed out Uchiha by shaking him vigorously while the stoic man showed absolutely no signs of stirring. Sasuke had the unfortunate luck of being extremely airsick and the corpman had been forced to sedate him for the duration of the trip.

During the numerous stop-over's, Naruto and Sakura had been forced to carry him to and from the plane and make sure to wake the machine gunner so he could eat, drink and relieve himself before knocking him out once more.

Needless to say it had been, as their Lieutenant said, troublesome.

Naruto shook his head and unbuckled his seat belt so that he could stand up. He ignored the byplay going on behind him and retrieved his backpack from the overhead compartment while the flight attendant rattled off her spiel over the intercom.

He noticed a soaked Sasuke finally coming around… and tried not to laugh at the sight of the now-empty bottle of water that Sakura was hiding behind her back while trying to look nonchalant. Satisfied with the knowledge that his team could disembark without his help, Naruto shouldered his bag and started towards the front of the plane.

Once in the terminal, he merely had to follow the line of uniformed bodies to reach Customs where, after a short wait, the agent quickly ran through the required questions and stamped his passport so that he could continue on towards the main terminal and baggage claim. However, before he could reach the security checkpoint, he was stopped by the wall of uniforms clustered around a trio of officers.

At a glance, Naruto deduced that their commander was waiting for the rest of the Company to arrive before he would let them continue. As the rest of the unit continued to flow in, Naruto took in his surroundings.

He watched as people waited in front of gates for their flight and passing the time by reading or spending time on their laptop. He saw them hurry down the concourses to make their flights, a few giving a polite nod or a smile in passing. A child holding his mother's hand gave him a giant grin and waved as he tried to keep up with his mother's longer stride.

He even saw an older couple walk up to their group and start shaking the soldiers' hands and thanking them for their service. And that was when it finally hit him: while most of the population wasn't supportive of the war, almost every single person supported them; the troops.

It was like someone had lifted off a set of blinders from his eyes. All the angst and questioning of himself back in the desert seemed like the dumbest things in the world to the blond right then. However, his train of thought was derailed by his commander as the last of the unit finally arrived.

"Alright everybody, settle down," started the older officer. "I know you all are anxious to see your loved ones, but before we release you we need to get the usual crap out of the way. I'll hand this over to the Platoon Leaders in a second, but I wanted to have my say first."

The man looked slowly around the group and gave a curt nod, as if satisfied. "It's been a long year and a half, but every single one of you has given me a hundred and ten percent. You've fought hard and returned home safe… and that's all that anybody could ever ask of you. It's been a pleasure and an honor to serve and fight with all of you."

Though it was said in a conversational tone, no one in the Company had trouble hearing. As he gave his unit another once over, he could feel a sense of pride and accomplishment coming from all of them. "Platoon Leaders will give safety briefs before releasing you. Muster is Monday at 1200 hours." He then took a step back as the three Platoon Leaders stepped forward to take control of their people.

Lieutenant Nara was the last to speak up. "Troublesome… Form up on me!" He repressed a sigh as the two squads composing his platoon quickly gathered around him.

After a quick head count, he began with his briefing. "The commander has authorized a four-day pass. Show up in front of the Company at 1200 hours on Monday in PT gear. Your safety briefing is as follows," he said lazily, finally allowing himself to grin. "Don't drink and drive. Don't leave the local area without clearing it through myself first. Don't do anything that the First Sergeant and I will have to be called at home about. That would just piss me off," he said, eliciting several chuckles from the group.

"Do buckle up when driving. Do drink in moderation. If you do drink out in town, do bring a DD or call a cab." The officer paused for a moment to make sure he had everyone's attention before continuing. "Last but not least, enjoy your time off. Once we get back to work, we all need to get in-processed and medically cleared. After that, it's back to training."

Finished, he gave his platoon one last bored look. "Now get the hell out of here. Your loved ones are waiting," he said as he shot his thumb over his shoulder towards the security checkpoint. "Dismissed!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Neji Hyuuga was annoyed.

No, 'annoyed' just didn't portray the proper amount feeling. If he had to put what he felt into words, Neji would have called it aggravation.

You see, the young Hyuuga prodigy was considered the brightest mind his family had produced in nearly three generations. And even though he hailed from the so-called 'Branch Family,' he was already well on his way to the top echelons of the family business.

However, he was not destined for the highest position. That honor belonged to the… _failure_ standing next to him. Neji cast a baleful glare at the back of the head of the woman he had been ordered to escort by his uncle.

Hinata Hyuuga was the heiress to the Hyuuga Corporation fortune and next in line for the position of President and CEO, much to Neji's chagrin. Her political skills were severely lacking and she was too soft-spoken and timid to ever make a good executive. Yet her father refused to remove her from the position of heiress knowing full well that it could very well spell the ruin of the company he himself had made great more than two decades before.

It was almost an insult to Neji to be forced to babysit the woman while she awaited the return of her 'boyfriend' when he could be doing something to the betterment of the company instead. However, while abandoning his charge might have been a _very_ tempting prospect, Neji knew that doing so would ruin any chance he might have had of upward mobility in the company in the future.

So, for now he was stuck watching over his cousin and attempting not to appear completely bored out of his mind. The lavender-eyed beauty in question was currently staring anxiously towards the security checkpoint exit searching for the object of her affection.

Neji snorted at the thought of the blond ruffian as he shifted his foot slightly into a more comfortable position. Why Hiashi-sama would ever allow his daughter to court one such as him was beyond the prodigy! At best, the man could be considered humorous in a social setting. The fact of the matter was that he was nothing but a low-class punk with no concept of how the world truly was.

But as much as he loathed the rambunctious orphan, he too was anxious for the man to appear; if for no other reason than allowing him to leave Hinata in the other man's care and go back to doing what he wanted to.

Neji noticed the woman before him tense slightly, causing him to follow her line of sight to the group of soldiers making their way to the terminal.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Hinata felt as giddy as a schoolgirl. She hadn't seen her boyfriend in more than a year and a half and she couldn't stand the agonizing wait for Naruto to walk the one hundred and fifty feet to the end of the security checkpoint. She could see him trying to push past a few of his squad mates, but several of them seemed to be intentionally barring his path with mischievous smirks on their faces.

Hinata enjoyed a good prank every now and then, but _damn it_ she wished they would have picked another time! She needed her dattebayo now!

Hinata had loved Naruto for many years, but had been too shy to admit her feelings to the blond. Once they'd finally become a couple, Hinata had been over the moon with happiness! But all of those feelings couldn't hold a flame to what she felt the first time she'd laid eyes upon Private Naruto Uzumaki at his graduation from Army Boot Camp.

Pure, undeniable, unadultered _lust_.

And he was all _hers_.

Over the last eighteen months, Hinata had learned firsthand that absence did indeed make the heart grow fonder. It also made a body grow frustrated.

Hinata couldn't be considered 'loose' by any stretch of the imagination, but after a year and a half, her boyfriend had a lot of 'snuggle time' to make up for and she'd be damned if he didn't catch up on his backlog in the near future!

Sometime during her mental ranting she'd lost sight of her blond Adonis and anxiously began searching through the crowd on her tip-toes for him. All she could see were hugging couples and camouflaged soldiers holding young children; but no Naruto.

A whispered "_Hime_," in her ear had her spinning on her heel only to find herself face-to-grinning-face with the love of her life.

"Naruto…" was all she managed as her vision began to get blurry. She could barely make out his foxy smile anymore like this.

"_Tadaima, Hinata-chan._" I'm home, Hinata.

Hinata just took a step forward and embraced Naruto in a fierce hug as tears began to fall down her cheeks. She felt his strong arms wrap around her small frame and his cheek resting against the top of her head.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto knew now why he had been fighting. It was resting against his chest in his loving embrace right now. Hinata was his reason to fight. To hell with anyone that said otherwise. He felt his Princess pull away slightly, so he loosened his grip so she could look him in the eye with her tear-streaked face.

"_O-kaeri nasai, Naruto-kun._" Welcome home, Naruto.

A flash from the right caught their attention and they both turned to see Neji Hyuuga with a digital camera in his hands.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Neji turned to his confused cousin with a blank expression. "Your sister would be displeased with me if I failed to acquire a photograph of Uzumaki's homecoming," he explained in a curt manner before turning to the other man. "I leave her in your care."

With that he turned towards the exit of the airport and disappeared into the crowd.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto and Hinata exchanged confused looks before Naruto gave a small shrug and released her from his embrace.

"Fine by me!" he exclaimed happily as Hinata took a moment to wipe her face. "I don't know about you, but I'm starved! Wanna grab something to eat?"

Hinata matched his smile with one of her own and gave a nod. "Sure Naruto. I'm sure Teuchi has missed his favorite customer," she said slyly. The blond's face lit up with excitement and Hinata soon found herself being half-dragged towards the baggage claims.

"Ichiraku Ramen, here we come!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Aaaannnnd... that's it! I hope you enjoyed this quick little one-shot and that you'll also leave me some feedback so that I can continue to improve my writing. XD

Before anyone says anything… yes, I know that this story touches on very controversial material. Many people that read this will very likely have strong views and beliefs on the subject matter. I'd like to nip a potential problem in the bud by forbidding the use of the comment/review area as a political forum. Please limit your reviews to whether you liked the story or not and what I can improve, if anything, to make future writings better.

I'm well aware that there are those of you that may have lost loved ones in the Middle East and I'd like to point out that I didn't write this piece with the intention of offending anyone. I mourn for my fallen brothers and sisters-in-arms the same as you, because regardless of blood, branch of service, ethnicity, or gender… they _are_ my family.

I've also added a small glossary below for those terms I thought were too 'military' for those unfamiliar with the lifestyle. If there is anything not in the glossary that you didn't understand, feel free to ask in your comment/review and I'll be happy to elaborate for you.

One final note: all characters in this story other than those from the Naruto-verse are 'owned' by me… in as much as real people can be owned nowadays. In reality, every character in this story is based on real Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen that I've had the honor to serve with. Their names and ranks have been altered to protect their privacy, but other than that… what you see is the true face of the United States Armed Forces.

All unit and radio designators are purely fictional and false by design. I've tried to keep the organizational make up of portrayed units true-to-life, but again, I've altered them slightly for OPSEC concerns.

The following is listed in the order that they appeared in the story.

RPG – Rocket Propelled Grenade; an anti-armor, tube-launched weapon commonly used by terrorist and military forces in the Middle East, Russia, and Asia.

Corpsman – Navy medical personnel; comparable to an Army medic.

NCO – Non Commissioned Officer or noncom; only applies to enlisted members of the Armed Forces. In the Air Force, this term applies to ranks from Staff Sergeant (SSgt/E-5) and above; for the Navy, Petty Officer 3rd Class (PO3/E-4) and above; for the Marines, Corporal (Cpl/E-4) and above; and for the Army, it applies to Sergeant (Sgt/E-4) and above. These are the leadership positions in the force that are in charge when an officer isn't around and carry the authority to punish subordinates when warranted.

Rounds – Technical term for bullets.

M4A1 – Standard weapon issued to US Armed Forces. For more information on the M4 and its variants, search 'M4A1' on Wikipedia.

Mujahedeen – Islamic extremist foot soldiers; also called 'muj' for short and 'rag head' or 'durka' in derogatory terms.

Tango – 'T' in the phonetic alphabet; commonly used to indicate enemy combatants during combat, i.e. 'Tango down' or 'Tango on the roof.'

Magazine – Storage unit for holding ammunition to be put into a weapon; also known as a 'clip' in day-to-day parlance.

Point – Term used to describe the person or team that leads the rest of the unit into combat; the most dangerous position in day-to-day combat operations.

Huah – This term has so many uses, variants and spellings, I could write a whole wiki page about it. Fortunately, somebody else already did! Just search 'huah' on Wikipedia to see all about it, but in this story it is used as a call and response cheer.

KIA – Killed in Action.

WIA – Wounded in Action.

M-240 – Light machine gun; usually only issued to a single member in a squad, thus the Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). For more information, Wikipedia 'M-240'.

DFAC – Dining Facility; pronounced 'dee-fak'.

Pelican case – Hard plastic case used by the military to store all kinds of equipment; comes in all different sizes.

AWOL – Absent Without Official Leave; in the simplest of terms, desertion of one's post or duty.


	3. A Memorial

The Reason: A Memorial

By Jolly

An AU Naruto story

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

This came to me on Tuesday after I came home from visiting the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. It was the 16th anniversary of the attack on Tuesday and I dropped by to pay my respects like I've done for the last 4 years. I felt that it would fit well with the first chapter I wrote, so I decided to take Naruto along with me on my circumnavigation of the site.

This is unbeta'd, so expect a slightly changed version in a few days. My beta's are a bit busy at the moment, so I decided to just post it as-is for now.

Enjoy!

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

April 19, 2011

It was a beautiful day. Mid 70 degree temperatures with a light breeze and scattered cloud cover. As a uniformed man with blonde hair exited his vehicle parked along the side of the downtown street, he couldn't help but take a moment to appreciate what a fine day it was... despite the reason he was visiting this particular area of Oklahoma City.

He donned his beret, adjusting it slightly to ensure it was properly seated, and crossed the trafficless street towards part of a chain link fence that was covered with various bric-a-brac; necklaces, keychains, stuffed animals, party beads, wreighs with pictures and eulogies - you name it. The man walked slowly along the fence, taking in everything as he passed. The few people that were viewing the fence made way slightly as he passed them and gave him respectful nods.

The fence ended at the edge of a large black monument standing almost 120 feet high that served as a gateway into the main part of the memorial. Looking up the sidewalk, the man saw another, taller figure wearing the standard camoflauge uniform of the Air Force with three stripes on his sleeves standing centered aside the entrance. He was looking up at the monument, not even glancing to the side as the blonde came up and stood beside him.

He followed the other man's gaze and saw what he was looking at. Etched into the west facing side of the obelisk was a quote:

'_We come here to remember_  
_Those who were killed, Those who survived and Those changed forever._  
_May all who leave here know the impact of Violence._  
_May this Memorial offer Comfort, Strength, Peace, Hope and Serenity._'

The tall brunette finally tore his eyes from the monument and turned to the blonde with a smile. "It's good to finally see you again, Naruto," he said as he held out his hand. Naruto returned the smile and gave his old friend a solid handshake. "Or should I call you Sergeant Uzumaki now?" the giant asked the shorter blonde.

Naruto merely shook his head with a grimace. "Forget that crap, Jordan. You know I hate to stand on ceremony with my friends," he said as the pair walked through the entrance and started up the winding sloped path within. "Unless you want me calling you Senior Airman Wright?" he asked with a mischievous smirk while glancing at the other man.

Who just shrugged. "Couldn't care less either way, dude," he replied non-chalantly, causing Naruto to grumble a bit at not being able to get a rise out of his friend. "Where's Duck-butt and Medic-chan?" he asked, looking over his shoulder as if he expected the two in question to show up at any time. "Or your Princess, for that matter?"

The blond opened his mouth to respond, but was left speechless as the pair walked through the inner archway. They stood facing a mirror pool with an identical obelisk to the one they had just walked through on the opposite end. Carved into it was simply a time: 9:01. Naruto turned around to look at the structure he had just traversed, and sure enough, there was another time engraved into it as well: 9:03.

Meaning that the area where they were standing was supposed to be 9:02.

The taller man looked at his friend in bemusement for a moment before deciding to bring him out of his reverie. "Kind of breathtaking, huh?" Naruto could only nod in agreement as he turned back around towards the mirror pool. "Come on. Let's go pay our respects," said Jordan as he motioned his chin off to the right side of the pool.

As Naruto looked where his friend indicated, he finally noticed the rows of 'chairs' in a small field of grass lined with a variety of trees. They walked towards the field at a leisurely pace, allowing Naruto to take in the area surrounding it. The pair started at the west end of the first row and walked side by side while reading the names adorning the front of the stone, glass and bronze seats.

No words were spoken between them as they walked the entire length of the first row. On the east end of the row, Naruto finally looked around him and noticed that there was a sidewalk surrounding the outer edge of the field of chairs. Then he noticed the fractured and pockmarked concrete wall that went all along the back end of the field and came to a startling realization.

Eyes wide, he turned to his blank-faced friend. "We're standing where the building used to be, aren't we?" Jordan merely nodded slowly and began walking down the second row, forcing Naruto to catch up with him. The chairs all looked the same, one next to the other, but the second row had much fewer chairs in it than the first.

As they approached the middle of the row, the blonde was once again brought to an abrupt halt in front of an obviously smaller chair than all the rest. He started to look towards his friend again... and finally noticed that most of the rest of the row had identical chairs to the one he stood by. "There were sixteen children three years of age or younger killed in the second floor day care center," his friend said suddenly, as if anticipating the blonde's question. "Not including the three unborn children in other parts of the building."

His voice was devoid of emotion; a sure sign that he was on the verge of tears.

Not trusting his own voice, Naruto simply started walking again. The second row ended, causing the two men to turn together onto the third row. Forcing himself to not look at the small chairs to his left, Naruto turned to Jordan. "Hey, you know that talk we had last year before I deployed?"

"You mean about the reason I stayed in after all the shit I saw out there?" the brunette clarified. "What about it?"

Naruto gave a chagrined look as he absently scratched the back of his head. "I think I finally figured out what you meant. About how you 'loved too much'? I get it now." The blonde glanced over at his friend, noticing that he now wore a sad smile.

"It took you being out there to really appreciate what I said, didn't it?" he asked rhetorically as they turned onto the fourth row. Naruto gave a short nod and noticed his friend slowing down and falling behind him.

"Wha-?"

"Eyes front," his friend growled at him, reminding him of his Drill Instructor. He complied with the order, knowing the other man was falling into step with him, and was rewarded soon after with a low, "Halt." The two came to a stop in front of a single chair. "Left, face." As one, both men pivoted on their left feet while kicking out their right heels, then brought both feet back together. They now stood facing a chair, bracketing it on either side.

The name on the front read: Sergeant First Class Lola Bolden, U.S. Army.

"Pre-sent, _arms_!" ordered the taller man in a volume clearly audible from many yards away. Again, as one, both men brought their right arms up to their brows to salute their fallen brethren. After about ten seconds, "Or-der, _arms_!" Both dropped their arms down along their sides and stood at attention

"Carry on," Jordan said in his normal voice, causing both men to start walking to the south side by side once again. Both noticed that people had stopped in their own respects and were taking pictures of them.

Neither cared.

They remained silent as they finished walking the length of the row. The fifth row had about as many chairs as the fourth did, and the two men maintained their steady pace as they passed others that had stopped to pray and those going in the opposite direction down the row. None spoke to them, but more than a few gave them grateful smiles and appreciative nods.

As they turned back west onto the sixth row, Jordan broke the silence once again. "We'll be stopping again in the next row." Naruto looked down the current row, seeing just over half a dozen chairs, then turned to look at the seventh row, which only had two with a small white wreigh in between them on a stand.

"The two?" he asked, gesturing with his chin at the chairs in question. Jordan nodded his head.

"You'll see," was his simple reply. They quickly finished the sixth row and turned towards the two chairs standing alone in the seventh 'row'. As before, his friend got himself lined up so that he would be on the blonde's left when they faced the chairs.

Realizing what the two chairs represented, Naruto squared his shoulders and decided to take control. "I've got this one," he told the man in front of him. The brunette nodded. They came upon the chairs and Naruto timed the order just right. "Halt." Step, stop.

"Right, face," he said with authority, letting his voice carry across the field. Both turned together, each directly facing a chair.

On the left, the chair read: Sergeant Benjamin LaRanzo Davis, USMC.

On the right, it read: Captain Randolph A. Guzman, USMC.

"Pre-sent, _arms_!" ordered Naruto, his voice now carrying all throughout the memorial grounds. As they saluted, the blonde noticed the people around them start to come closer and take pictures of them paying their respects. Naruto held them in the same position for a little longer than neccesary to allow the photographers to take their lithographs before finally giving the counter-order, "Or-der, _arms_!"

Naruto and Jordan returned to the position of attention. "Carry on," Naruto said in a normal voice. However, neither moved from their spots in front of the chairs. They simply stared at them as the sun began to lower in the sky to the west. Finally, Naruto couldn't stay silent anymore. "How many more will we stop at?"

Next to him, Jordan continued to stare dead ahead. After several seconds, he answered in a quiet voice, "These are the last two," he said with a hint of sadness finally coloring his voice. "I'm positive that there are a lot more that were prior military, but I haven't found a reliable list of all of them yet." He then turned to his left, making his way to the eighth row, forcing Naruto to catch up once more.

Having nothing more to say at that point, they remained silent throughout the last three rows of chairs. As they came to the end of the tenth and final row, Jordan led them both onto the sidewalk surrounding the field and started walking to the east. However, Naruto took a moment to turn and look at the 168 placeholders strewn across the field.

There were dozens of people walking through the rows, just as he and Jordan had been only moments before. Families, couples and the occasional lone visitor each paid their respects in their own way. Naruto saw a mother, father and their two daughters going from chair to chair, offering a prayer at each one before moving on to the next. He saw many doing as he and his friend had; simply walking along and silently offering their prayers.

In the fifth row, he spotted an elderly woman sitting on one of the chairs... she was obviously crying. At her feet was a bouquet of flowers that he assumed she had brought with her to leave at the memorial.

The senseless loss of life hit Naruto like a ton of bricks in his chest.

During his trek through the field, the blonde had felt himself try harder and harder to hold back his emotions... but that old lady crying on that chair pushed him over the edge. Disregarding his own propriety, he let himself shed the tears he had been holding back for the last half an hour.

A hand on his shoulder caused him to turn around at his friend, who had a sad smile on his face. Naruto made no movement to wipe away the moisture on his face. Jordan gestured over his shoulder down the path and put a bit of pressure on the blonde's shoulder. "Come on, Naruto. I want you to see this," he said, pulling him alongside and leading him towards several large polished stone slabs on the east side of the memorial.

As they neared, Naruto could begin to make out words that he eventually discerned were more names. What they represented, he had no idea, but there had to have been hundreds of names on those pieces of rock. As he contemplated asking his friend, Jordan began yet another narration; almost as if he know what the blonde would ask before he did...

"This is the Survivor Wall," he began, indicating all of the granite slabs as well as the pock-marked concrete they were mounted to. "The concrete walls are the only original remnants of the Murrah Building... and the granite was recovered from the lobby of the building during the recovery operations.

"The names..." he trailed off slightly, causing Naruto to look over at the now smiling giant, "are the survivors of the blast inside the Murrah Building and the immediately surrounding buildings." The blonde looked again at the hundreds of names on all the slabs before him, but this time he too wore a happy smile. This wall represented all those that were present, many of whom were injured, in the attack, yet were able to survive the tradgedy.

Jordan continued as he began to walk along the wall towards the reflecting pool, "There are over 800 names on this wall... making over a thousand lives that were directly and immediately effected by this single act of hate." The brunette turned away from the wall and made his way towards the 9:01 gate just ahead. Naruto wiped away the drying tears from his face and followed after him at a slightly slower pace; attempting to take in as much of the Wall as he could.

He reached the end of the Survivor wall and quickened his steps to catch up to his friend, who had begun to make his way up a set of tiered steps leading towards a massive elm tree that stood overlooking the entire memorial. As Naruto came back alongside Jordan, the brunette started speaking without even glancing over.

"That tree ahead used to be the only shady spot in the parking lot for the Murrah Building. During the blast, the intense heat and overpressure stripped it of most of its branches and all of its greenery," he explained as they got closer. Upon reaching the top of the steps, the two turned left onto a small walkway that led directly in front of the tree.

"It was almost cut down 16 years ago so that evidence could be gathered from its bark and upper branches, but it was decided that there was enough evidence to be gathered from the trunk without having to remove it," Jordan continued softly while looking up at the huge tree; its bark charred and blackened from the explosion. "The tree was so badly damaged, nobody thought that it would survive..."

Jordan shook his head and stopped walking 20 feet away from the trunk. "A year later, survivors and mourners came here to hold a memorial service... and found that it had started to bloom again." Though neither of them were looking at the other, both wore identical grins; the kind that made their faces feel like they would split in half.

After a minute or so of appreciating the magnificence of the tree and its tale, Jordan led Naruto over towards the edge of the overlook. Naruto noticed that there was yet another quote on the inside of the edge of the circular promontory. It read:

'_The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us._'

Suddenly, lights all around the memorial turned on all at once, illuminating everything around them. Naruto and Jordan walked up to the edge and looked out over the grounds. In the Field of Empty Chairs, lights in the base of each chair had been lit, allowing for nighttime viewing and drastically changing the feel of the memorial. The Gates of Time on either end of the Reflecting Pool were also lit, the seams of the steel shining in the pre-twilight and the times carved into them clearly visible from even the distance the two of them were at.

"Amazing..." was the only thing Naruto could think to say as he took in the changes. A tap on his shoulder got his attention and the blonde turned to his friend, who was gesturing towards the building to the south of the Survivor Tree. He gave a nod and quickly fell into step.

As they approached the building, "I wanted you to see this last," he said as he pointed at the wall ahead of them. On it was a signed and dated quote... in spray paint. It read:

'_Team 5_  
_4-19-95_  
_We search for the truth._  
_We seek justice._  
_The courts require it._  
_The victims cry for it._  
_And GOD demands it!_'

Without missing a beat, Jordan went back into his 'lecture'. "During rescue and recovery operations immediately following the attack, one group of rescuers took a moment to place this... art on the building just north of the parking lot..." he trailed off as the sun fell further below the horizon and the illumination from the nearby lightpost shone across the wall and the message. The two began walking towards the west once more. "When they finalized the plans for the Memorial, they decided to repair the structure of the building, but leave the south-facing walls as they were the day of the attack."

Jordan pointed up towards the windows of the building and continued. "The windows were left blacked-out to give people the sense of the windows being blown in. A special preserving sealant was applied to the entire side of the building to keep it looking much the same as it did 16 years ago," he said as the reached the end of the building.

Naruto found himself looking at the building as he walked along. The small gouges from flying shrapnel, the blackened windows and way up near the top, there were several cracks running most of the length of the wall. If he had to guess, he would say they were from where the explosion lifted the roof off of the wall, then settled back into place without actually falling off or caving in.

It was something he had seen first-hand while he was deployed.

As they reached the end of the building, both men stopped and turned southward to look down the slope at the rest of the Memorial grounds. As dusk fell around them, they watched as a small group started lighting candles that they had brought with them and began making their way through the field.

Though they had come later in the day, the sheer amount of people visiting the Memorial told Naruto how much the attack 16 years ago still affected the people of this city. He could very well imagine the thousands of people that had come here today before he and Jordan arrived... and it was quite an awakening realization.

After standing there for a few minutes, Naruto's curiosity finally made him break the silence. He cocked his head towards his friend and asked, "How do you know so much about all of this? I felt like I was back in Iruka's History class all over again." His friend snorted a quick laugh.

Shaking his head, he hung his left arm around the blonde's shoulders and started walking down the wide walkway with Naruto in tow. "You were the only one that could ever get away with calling him 'Iruka'," he said with a chuckle, while Naruto could only laugh embarrassedly at the truth of his friend's statement.

Suddenly, most of the humor left Jordan's face, though the smile remained. "I come here at least twice a year," he said in a soft voice. They came upon the Reflecting Pool and veered right towards the 9:03 gate. "To remind myself of the thing I'm fighting to get rid of. Of the hate that plagues people's hearts..."

Naruto nodded in agreement as Jordan removed his arm from around the blonde's shoulders. "Yeah... I get that," he replied sadly as they walked through the gate and began down the sloped walkway.

"Well, regardless of that," the brunette continued, "I think it's a great way to spend an afternoon. It's a beautiful area." Naruto couldn't agree more. At no time during his visit had he thought to himself, 'that's tacky' or 'they could take better care of such-and-such'.

When they reached the street, Naruto took a deep breath through his nose and let it out slowly through his mouth, now feeling oddly refreshed. Then the blonde remembered something that was supposed to do.

With a smirk and absolutely no warning, Naruto pivoted to the right and punched his friend in his arm, directly on his stripes, unbalancing the giant slightly from the unexpected blow. "Son of a bitch!" Jordan exclaimed as he cradled his left bicep. He glared over at the blonde, who still had a smirk on his face as he dusted off his fist theatrically. "What the hell was that for?"

Naruto's smirk turned into a grin as he showed his teeth. "Oh, I was just tacking on those new stripes of yours. They looked like they were a little loose," he replied, amusement apparent in his voice. Jordan's expression, however, changed from indignant to resigned.

"Damn it all..." he moaned as he turned around and presented his right arm to the blonde. This time, Naruto actually took the time to get a good punch ready... and build the suspense a bit. He finally let his fist fly, connecting with the stripe solidly, though the taller man didn't move as much this time around due to being prepared for it.

Rubbing his arms, Jordan knew that the damn things would be bruised, but he just shrugged it off and turned back to his friend. "Ass." Naruto gave him a one-fingered salute and the brunette rolled his eyes before turning and waving for the blonde to follow him. "C'mon, let's grab some dinner, dude. I know this great sports bar not far from here that has killer food. We can catch up, trade stories and maybe get a few free beers out of the deal," he said as they walked towards their cars.

Naruto followed along, completely happy to do just that.

As they pulled away from the Memorial, Naruto could honestly say that he felt more alive and refreshed than he had since returning from his deployment. Time may not always heal all wounds, but Naruto thought that it was better that way.

Sometimes you just needed a reminder of past hurts to get yourself set back on the right path...right?

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

I hope this was as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me write. I thought I did a good job of describing the Memorial in my story, but I'd like for you all to decide for yourself. Feel free to visit the Memorial's website and take a virtual tour of the grounds and let me know how I did.

The site is: www. Oklahomacitynationalmemorial. org/ secondary. php?section=2&catid=29


End file.
